Outlands: Journeys to the Outer Edges of Cape Cod

by Robert Finch

On fog-shrouded barrier island or deep in winter woods, eighteen essays describe the wild, outer half of Cape Cod.

Robert Finch is a vivid witness to our participation, whether as individuals or as communities, in the mysteries of natural experience. As he explains: "One of the primary reasons this place yields so much to me so consistently is that I have invested so much of myself into it, physically, mentally, and emotionally . . . a thousand simple, repeated, physical acts have given this landscape a texture for me so that even its most casual aspect is filled, not with slick charm or abstract nostalgia, but with living, tactile memory." In these essays, Finch demonstrates once again his profound willingness to ask essential questions. These essays recognize our need for both the human and the nonhuman in our lives; they probe the ambiguities in our response to the terror and beauty of the natural world and the love and aggression we struggle with in our associations with one another. Robert Finch’s remarkable prose offers high entertainment, but also gives us new sympathies for and understanding of both nature and ourselves.

Genres: Nature

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Robert Finch has lived on and written about Cape Cod for forty years. He is the author of six collections of essays and co-editor of The Norton Book of Nature Writing.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book because I want to enjoy the places and experiences that other people have without having to leave the comfort of my own home. Not to mention the fact that I really cannot afford to spend a week at a beach house, roaming among dunes, observing gulls and listening to sound of waves rushing up to meet the soft sand.

Robert Finch is an educated man. He leaves you no doubt about that. He uses every possible word, as if to impress the reader with his remarkable vocabulary, to write a description and somehow you still aren't quite sure what he is saying. At first I was eager to do a quick check to see what he meant by "It was a day to be careful what you asked the flounder." Thank goodness for the internet. From that I discovered that there is a children's tale about a magic flounder that grants wishes. Now I've heard the term "be careful what you wish for" but I was not familiar with the magic flounder.

I want to enjoy what I am reading. I want to be taken along on the journey without dragging along a dictionary and the internet.

[Godine Publisher & Black Sparrow Press · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Besides being an important book, it's also a graceful pleasure to read."
— Boston Globe

[Bob Wernerehl · Rating 2 out of 5]

for anyone familiar with the Cape and other writings about it (The Outermost House - Henry Beston, or Cape Cod, by Thoreau), this book holds little interest and didn't hold my attention. There were a couple good chapters but that rest was, to me, rather dull.